Showing results by narrator "Emma Powell" in All Categories

Summer, 1945. The nation rejoices as the Second World War comes to an end, but Banbury Street matriarch Eva Parke foresees trouble ahead. Her daughter, Mildred, awaits the return of her fiancé from overseas duty, and doubts begin to seep into her mind about how little she knows of the man she has promised to marry. Meanwhile new neighbour, dancer Cissie Cresswell, hides a terrible secret. Can the two young women unite to face the doubt and uncertainty of the future?

A new husband and a new house. Just as well, because Zoe doesn't like old. Back in the 1960s, this house was built to look ultra-modern, with lots of glass and sharp angles. And it was going cheap, perhaps because of the self-inflicted death of a previous owner – notoriously bloody and prolonged.

Sam Philips' time in the forces changed him forever. Supported by his friends, Sam is keen to help make beautiful Mill Grange a safe retreat for injured army personnel...but his crippling claustrophobia means Sam is living in a tent on the grounds! Enlisting the help of charming village stalwarts Bert and Mabel Hastings, Tina Martins is determined to find a way to help him conquer his fears. But why does she feel like he is keeping a secret?

Devon, 1887. Life has not been kind to dairymaid Tresca Ladycott. She can’t rely on her flighty farmhand father, Emmanuel, so she relies on herself. Then comes a devastating blow. Tresca is sacked from the dairy, and the pair lose their home. She and her father seek a new life in bustling Tavistock. More hardship lies ahead. The only work to be found is hard labour on the London and South West Railway. Before long, Emmanual is out of work yet again, and Tresca is faced with keeping them both in their tiny garret home.

In the quiet village of Helesbury, Miranda Wallace prides herself on being the most popular member of her small social circle; the perfect friend, the best mum - the queen bee. Until one day, Verity arrives. Cool and indifferent, Verity is everything Miranda isn’t, but she threatens to shatter Miranda’s picture-perfect life. Suddenly plagued with insecurities, Miranda is certain Verity is hiding something. And Miranda knows all about secrets and the damage they can cause, because she’s hiding some of her own.

Born to a French mother and an English father, Charlotte Bray has always felt like an outsider in her Cornish fishing village. She spends her days on her father's fishing boat, helping to feed a nation at war. But the war brings devastation, and her world is forever changed by tragedy. With nothing left to lose, she accepts a mysterious invitation to work for the War Office as a spy. She soon finds herself in Nazi-occupied Paris with a new identity. Charlotte begins working under the sombre but handsome Frenchman Pierre Lesieur. But do his allegiances lie elsewhere?

Single mum Thora Mason is content with her life. Lucas Grant left the Cornish village almost 20 years ago, leaving behind his family and the only woman he's ever loved. When Thora bumps into Lucas, she's stunned by the feelings that come rushing back, and from then on avoids him at all costs. After all, she's happy as she is, so why would she risk that by allowing romance to upend her life? As an investor, Lucas is governed solely by his head, but once he sees Thora again, his heart takes the reins.

Sixteen year old Quin lives in The Beck, a savior society. Her community has risen from the ruins of a land shattered by Mother Nature. But Beck law is tough. Quin knows that the rules must be followed in order to sustain life in a place where floodwaters constantly threaten existence. A single violation could land her in Clearance.

Someone knows about her past. Someone wants her to pay. Lou has spent her life supporting her husband and their family. But everything implodes when she catches him in bed with another woman. Heartbroken and betrayed, Lou walks away, only to find herself the target of a sinister campaign. Threatening notes arrive. Her car is vandalized. It seems someone is watching her every move. Lou suspects Freja, the woman she found in bed with her husband. But as she digs into Freja's past, disturbing truths about her own history begin to surface.

Two great loves. One shattering betrayal. A war that changes everything. Harriet and Mae Grafton are 20-year-old identical twins born from a scandalous affair. They grew up in India slighted by gossip and ostracised from polite society. They had each other and that was enough. But when their wealthy benefactor sends them to Singapore, they meet the mysterious Alex Blake and their relationship fractures with devastating consequences. Ivy Harcourt is posted to wartime Singapore amid the looming threat of Japanese invasion. Ivy knows the island will be a far cry from war-torn London, but she is totally unprepared for what awaits her....

After her husband dies, Cara no longer wishes to live in their London home. On impulse, she sells it and goes to stay with her brother in Salcombe, Devon, while she plans her next move. There, she begins to look back at her life and reflect on the choices that have led her to this moment. Cosmo has also escaped - temporarily - from his life in the city, finding the south-west a relaxing and appealing fit, especially when he meets local girl, Amy. But is he being entirely truthful about what he’s left behind?

In January 2015 renowned neuroscientist Barbara Lipska's melanoma spread to her brain. It was, in effect, a death sentence. She had surgery, radiation treatments and entered an immunotherapy clinical trial. And then her brain started to play tricks on her. The expert on mental illness - who had spent a career trying to work out how the brain operates and what happens when it fails - experienced what it is like to go mad.

The ponies of Pemberley Stables have been bound by magic, and each of them are trapped in time. Can two brave girls help get them back? Margot the dressage pony keeps getting all of her steps wrong. But can Olivia and Eliza help break the spell that is making her so clumsy and bring her back to the stables?

Brought to you by Penguin. 'A warm and engaging read.' Trisha Ashley After the death of her father, El moves into his home just outside Tavistock in Devon. Fresh out of university and dangling on the precipice of adulthood she questions what it is she really wants from life. Although her...

The Harrison family gathers as usual for Christmas in their big Sussex house. This year, however, outside realities are pressing hard: Pamela and John, married for four decades, know that time is catching up with them. And trouble is brewing in the lives of their four children. Cassie, the cossetted youngest, is in the throes of an affair with a married man; Elizabeth, her awkward older sister, is struggling with a faltering second marriage; Peter, the eldest and designated inheritor of Ashley House, is beginning to meet resistance to such a prospect from his career-orientated wife.

Germany, 1943. Jordanna cries out desperately to her mother, tears spilling down her cheeks. She is being torn one way, her parents another. And in Jordanna’s terrified, wide brown eyes, there is only one question: Will I ever see you again?

Georgia Sage has a gift: she can see evil in people. As a courtroom artist she uses her skills to help condemn those who commit terrible crimes. After all, her own brutal past means she knows innocence is even rarer than justice. But when she is drawn back into the trial that defined her career, a case of twisted family betrayal, she realises her own reckless pursuit of justice may have helped the guilty go free.

‘Fabulously festive and sparkly as tinsel – an absolute treat of a book’ Milly Johnson For Bo Grayson, Christmas has always been the most wonderful time of the year. Well, until she had her heart broken last December… When Bo Grayson and her friends meet a mysterious fortune teller, she...

August 1883. The future for Ling Southcott, a quarryman’s daughter, seems to be already mapped. Marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Barney, a cluster of children, a life contained to the hamlet of Foggintor Quarry. For Ling, with her sharp, enquiring mind and love of books, it is an accepted, if unwelcome fate. But then the new Princetown Railway opens across Dartmoor, connecting her remote hamlet to the neighbouring town of Tavistock, and even Plymouth.

Olivia Sheldon has travelled across the world to marry a man she does not love. Reluctant to leave England but coerced into the marriage, Olivia's reward is being reunited with her estranged sister, Clara. Her punishment is falling impossibly and illicitly in love with the enigmatic Captain Edward Bertram. Then one scorching day Clara is abducted from Alexandria's busiest street. Desperate to find her sister - and the truth about her disappearance - Olivia becomes embroiled in Egypt's shadowy underworld, risking both her life and future with Edward.